1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper money conveying equipment for conveying paper money, and more particularly to a paper money conveying equipment suitable, usable and buildable in a money exchange machine which is installed, for example, in a game parlor. The money exchange machine uses, for exchange, the paper money paid by a game player for and collected from a plurality of game medium vending machines also installed in the game parlor.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known money exchange machine for a game parlor installed, for example, at the end of a game island of the game parlor, which utilizes, for exchange, paper money paid by a game player for and collected from a plurality of game medium vending machines installed in the game island. The paper money dispensed from the exchange machine is used by game players for the payment for the game medium vending machine and conveyed and collected by the paper money conveying equipment to be returned back to the exchange machine again. As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, a conventional paper money conveying equipment comprises roller mechanisms 2 equipped along a conveying path 1. Each of the roller mechanisms 2 comprises a driving roller 3 and a driven roller 4 which are arranged opposite to each other so that the conveying path may be provided therebetween. And the driven roller 4 is urged or biased to be pressed against the driving roller 3 by a coil spring member 5.
In this connection, it is to be noted that paper money is more or less subject to damage such as folds or the like after its repeated use. Such damaged paper money would possibly cause a jam in its circulation path, and it is therefore necessary to separate damaged paper money from the rest so that only paper money in good condition may be reused for dispensing from the money exchange machine. However, this separation is not always made perfectly because there is no clear standard for judging the degree of damage, and therefore it may sometimes occur that damaged paper money is not eliminated and then mixed with the paper money which is in good condition. This might become a cause of clogging in the conveying equipment during the conveyance of the paper money.
In the conventional paper money conveying equipment, if damaged paper money is mixed into the circulation path and the equipment is clogged with the damaged paper money at a space between the driving roller 3 and driven roller 4, a cover of the paper money conveying equipment has to be opened, and then the driven roller 4 must be lifted against the force of the coil spring member 5, using leverage or the like, by inserting a screwdriver etc. into the space while taking care not to further damage the paper money. Thus, the driven roller 4 is disengaged from the driving roller 3 and the space between them is widened enough for removing the clogging paper money. As this recovery process is quite troublesome and time consuming, the circulation of the paper money is not always operated efficiently.